U.S. patent application number 12/612359 was filed with the patent office on 2010-07-01 for systems and methods for monitoring messaging applications.
Invention is credited to Sandeep Pamidiparthi.
Application Number | 20100169480 12/612359 |
Document ID | / |
Family ID | 42286243 |
Filed Date | 2010-07-01 |
United States Patent
Application |
20100169480 |
Kind Code |
A1 |
Pamidiparthi; Sandeep |
July 1, 2010 |
Systems and Methods for Monitoring Messaging Applications
Abstract
The present inventions relate systems and methods for monitoring
and managing electronic messages in one or more computer networks.
More particularly, the systems and methods of the present invention
provide a substantially global or unified approach to messaging
management within one or more computer networks that allows network
administrators or other authorized users to define and identify
electronic messages of interest within the network and store
selected messages such that they can be retrieved and examined in
connection with an audit or other inquiry.
Inventors: |
Pamidiparthi; Sandeep;
(Secunderabad, IN) |
Correspondence
Address: |
MCDERMOTT WILL & EMERY LLP
600 13TH STREET, N.W.
WASHINGTON
DC
20005-3096
US
|
Family ID: |
42286243 |
Appl. No.: |
12/612359 |
Filed: |
November 4, 2009 |
Related U.S. Patent Documents
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Application
Number |
Filing Date |
Patent Number |
|
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61111410 |
Nov 5, 2008 |
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Current U.S.
Class: |
709/224 ;
704/235; 704/E15.043; 707/756; 709/227; 709/246 |
Current CPC
Class: |
H04L 51/14 20130101;
H04L 41/22 20130101; G06Q 10/10 20130101; G06F 40/151 20200101;
G06Q 10/107 20130101; G06F 16/258 20190101; G06F 16/116 20190101;
H04L 51/063 20130101 |
Class at
Publication: |
709/224 ;
704/235; 709/227; 709/246; 707/756; 704/E15.043 |
International
Class: |
G06F 15/16 20060101
G06F015/16; G10L 15/26 20060101 G10L015/26 |
Claims
1. A messaging system comprising: a communication server having a
plurality of clients, the communication server configured to
initiate and administer messaging sessions between two or more of
the clients; an interface for creating a compliance policy defining
messages of interest; and a compliance agent configured to monitor
the messaging sessions, identify messages of interest within the
messaging sessions and direct storage of identified messages,
wherein the compliance agent determines a file format of the
identified messages and optionally converts identified messages to
a file format specified in the compliance policy.
2. The system of claim 1, wherein the communication server
comprises a Session Initiation Protocol server.
3. The system of claim 2, wherein the SIP server is a Microsoft
Office Communications Server.
4. The system of claim 1, wherein identified messages include an
audio data portion, and the system further comprises a speech
recognition module configured to convert the audio data portion
into text.
5. The system of claim 1, wherein the compliance policy specifies a
confidentiality designation for identified messages.
6. The system of claim 1, wherein identified messages are conveyed
by a PSTN or PBX network and controlled by a data network.
7. The system of claim 1, wherein identified messages are converted
to common file format.
8. The system of claim 7, wherein the common file format includes
ASCII or text format.
10. The system of claim 1, wherein the compliance agent includes a
Session Initiation Protocol User Agent or Session Initiation
Protocol User Agent Client.
11. The system of claim 1, further comprising means for
de-duplicating identified messages in storage.
12. The system of claim 1, wherein the compliance policy is created
based, at least in part, on legal or regulatory requirements.
13. A method for specifying, identifying, and selectively storing
electronic messages, comprising: initiating and administering a
messaging session between two or more clients a with communication
server; creating a compliance policy for defining messages of
interest; and configuring a compliance agent to monitor the
messaging session, identify messages of interest within the
messaging session and direct storage of identified messages,
wherein the compliance agent determines a file format of the
identified messages and optionally converts identified messages to
a file format specified in the compliance policy.
14. The method of claim 13, wherein identified messages include an
audio data portion, further comprising convert the audio data
portion into text.
15. The method of claim 13, further comprising conveying identified
messages, at least in part, over a PSTN or PBX network and
controlling identified messages, at least in part, with a data
network.
16. The method of claim 13, further comprising converting
identified messages to a common file format.
17. The method of claim 61, wherein the common file format includes
ASCII or text format.
18. The method of claim 15, wherein the compliance agent includes a
Session Initiation Protocol User Agent or Session Initiation
Protocol User Agent Client.
19. The method of claim 13, further comprising de-duplicating
identified messages in storage.
20. A computer-usable medium having stored therein computer-usable
instructions for a processor, wherein said instructions when
executed by the processor cause the processor to: initiate and
administer a messaging session between two to or more clients a
with communication server; create a compliance policy for defining
messages of interest; and configure a compliance agent to monitor
the messaging session, identify messages of interest within the
messaging session and direct storage of identified messages,
wherein the compliance agent determines a file format of the
identified messages and optionally converts identified messages to
a file format specified in the compliance policy.
Description
PRIORITY CLAIM
[0001] This application claims priority pursuant to 35 U.S.C.
.sctn.119 to U.S. Provisional Application Ser. No. 61/111,410 filed
Nov. 5, 2008.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
[0002] The inventions described herein relate to electronic
communication systems. More particularly, the inventions described
herein relate to systems and methods for monitoring messages in
electronic communication systems that allows network operators to
define and identify messages of interest, classify and organize
those messages to efficiently store them to facilitate subsequent
retrieval, auditing or compliance inquiries.
[0003] Currently, corporate environments provide numerous forms of
electronic communication. For example, corporate employees may
communicate internally or with others outside the company through
telephones, videophones, voicemail, email, text messages, instant
messages, or through electronic collaboration applications such as
chat rooms or online blogs. In many cases, these messaging
solutions may further include imbedded content such as audio, video
or text based attachments that convey or otherwise communicate the
desired information, with the messaging application merely acting
as a delivery agent.
[0004] Such messaging applications can be divided into two general
groups, synchronous and asynchronous. Synchronous messaging
typically involves a substantially instant dialogue between the
communicating parties. Asynchronous messaging, on the other hand,
involves monologue-based messages between the communicating
parties, which are stored in a known location and may be later
accessed by the receiving party to review and respond.
[0005] Synchronous messaging is still primarily carried out using
PBX (Private Branch Exchange) or PSTN (public switched telephone
network) networks. With the advent of commercially viable data
oriented messaging solutions, more and more synchronous
communications are occurring over the Internet in different forms.
Some of the most popular type of synchronous messaging include IM
(instant messaging), and VoIP (Voice over Internet Protocol)
involving streaming audio/video technologies.
[0006] Asynchronous messaging is mostly carried out using
commercial messaging systems, which involve electronic mailing
(e.g., email or SMTP server). These types of messaging systems
usually have central storage locations, such as an email or other
messaging server, which is frequently administered by the business
entity using them.
[0007] Synchronous messaging platforms using analog communication
technologies remain fairly common. Although data oriented
communication, such instant messaging and VoIP, is becoming
increasingly popular, it has not fully superseded traditional
methods of device based communication (e.g., PSTN telephone
communication). As a result, a new blend of communication solutions
are being generated, where data oriented communication mechanisms
complement the traditional legacy networks. These approaches create
numerous possible messaging configurations in which data oriented
networks control traditional, and enable messaging between the two.
Solutions are being created that integrate these networks and add
more sophisticated features into the combination so as to
increasingly transform conventional device interaction to
individual interaction.
[0008] One class of such solutions includes instant messaging
applications that promote optimum network use which increases
performance of the IM application. Peer to peer (P2P) protocols
have been used in this scenario, which provide direct host to host
connections between the participants using optimized network paths.
Many consumer applications in this sector use proprietary P2P
protocols. Such applications tend to be centered on the individual.
Administration of these applications may be difficult for network
operators, especially in connection with certain management
functions such as resource allocation or regulatory compliance. In
addition, these applications do not fit neatly within the existing
information structures of the corporate networks, thus making
collaboration application limited.
[0009] A second class of applications prefers centralized
synchronous messaging applications. In these applications, the
organization may exert control over the communications environment
from a compliance or management perspective, which may be easily
integrated with its own corporate networks as well as partner
networks. This may allow users to gain access to corporate enabled
features such as security, compliance and effective policy
applications for the administrators, while at the same time
allowing use of corporate identity management features to locate
people connected to the network. Client/server applications are
used in these systems, and a set of protocols are being developed
based on the standards.
[0010] Although the emergence of these various forms of electronic
communication, and their integration into one another have
generally improved productivity, no central management system
exists to monitor, coordinate or otherwise administer or oversee
such communications. As a result, IT managers tend to administer
each of these communication technologies separately, which causes
significant inefficiencies when attempting to implement corporate
data management or communication polices.
[0011] For example, regulatory requirements increasingly require
businesses to comply with data retention and administration
standards that help complete an audit (usually by external audit
agencies) of the activities undertaken by individuals involved in
the business. One important activity performed in the course of
conducting the business is the various forms of electronic
messaging. Accordingly, auditors are frequently interested in
examining the entire body of electronic messages relating to
certain aspects of the business irrespective of the particular
communication platform(s) used. Thus, it would be desirable to have
the capability to define and identify electronic messages of
interest within a business enterprise and store them such that they
can easily be retrieved and examined in connection with an audit or
other inquiry.
[0012] Furthermore, company management may wish to restrict, limit
or otherwise be aware of communications relating to certain subject
matter or among certain parties in order to ensure compliance with
established communication policies or other administrative or legal
restrictions. Thus, it would be further desirable to have the
capability to define and identify electronic messages of interest
before, during, or after a communication session so that any
appropriate action may be taken (restrict communication, tag and
store message as relevant to one or more topics or areas of
inquiry, etc.).
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
[0013] The present inventions relate systems and methods for
monitoring and managing electronic messages in one or more computer
networks. More particularly, the systems and methods of the present
invention provide a substantially global or unified approach to
messaging management within one or more computer networks that
allows network administrators or other authorized users to define
and identify electronic messages of interest within the network and
store selected messages such that they can be retrieved and
examined in connection with an audit or other inquiry.
[0014] In addition, aspects of the present invention provide
systems and methods that may restrict, limit or otherwise identify
communications relating to certain subject matter or among certain
parties in a computer network to promote or ensure compliance with
established communication policies or other administrative or legal
restrictions associated with electronic communication. One way this
may be accomplished is by defining and identifying electronic
messages of interest before, during, or after a communication
session so that any appropriate action may be taken (restrict
communication, tag and store message as relevant to one or more
topics or areas of inquiry, etc.).
[0015] One embodiment of the invention may include a
computer-usable medium having stored therein computer-usable
instructions for a processor, wherein said instructions when
executed by the processor cause the processor to: initiate and
administer a messaging session between two to or more clients a
with communication server; create a compliance policy for defining
messages of interest; and configure a compliance agent to monitor
the messaging session, identify messages of interest within the
messaging session and direct storage of identified messages,
wherein the compliance agent determines a file format of the
identified messages and optionally converts identified messages to
a file format specified in the compliance policy.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
[0016] The above and other objects and advantages of the present
invention will be apparent upon consideration of the following
detailed description, taken in conjunction with the accompanying
drawings, in which like reference characters refer to like parts
throughout, and in which:
[0017] FIG. 1 illustrates a schematic block diagram of an
electronic communication system constructed in accordance with the
principles of the present invention.
[0018] FIG. 2 is a flow chart illustrating some of the steps
involved in monitoring and selectively storing certain electronic
messages in accordance with an embodiment of the present
invention.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION
[0019] The present inventions relate systems and methods for
monitoring and managing electronic messages in one or more computer
networks. More particularly, the systems and methods of the present
invention provide a substantially global or unified approach to
messaging management within one or more computer networks that
allows network administrators or other authorized users to define
and identify electronic messages of interest within the network and
store selected messages such that they can be retrieved and
examined in connection with an audit or other inquiry.
[0020] In addition, aspects of the present invention provide
systems and methods that may restrict, limit or otherwise identify
communications relating to certain subject matter or among certain
parties in a computer network to promote or ensure compliance with
established communication policies or other administrative or legal
restrictions associated with electronic communication. One way this
may be accomplished is by defining and identifying electronic
messages of interest before, during, or after a communication
session so that any appropriate action may be taken (restrict
communication, tag and store message as relevant to one or more
topics or areas of inquiry, etc.).
[0021] Although the present inventions are illustrated herein in
connection with a computer network associated with a business or
corporate enterprise, it will be understood that they are equally
applicable to any suitable LAN or WAN type network that has one or
more electronic messaging systems and may include other entities
such small businesses and/or individual users. Moreover, it will be
further understood that such computer networks may be portions of
larger networks within a given enterprise and that aspects of the
present invention may be selectively deployed to any suitable
portion of such networks defined or specified by a network
administrator, including certain business units, specific users or
other organizational groups.
[0022] For example, it may be desired to identify and monitor
electronic messages associated with certain groups such as
accounting, legal, compliance, management, IT, technical groups, or
administrator defines groups, etc. Other selective applications may
include specific people with such groups and may further specify
other criteria such as subject matter, time of day, messaging
application, etc. Such groups need not be pre-existing (e.g., such
as email groups) and may be defined as further described
herein.
[0023] Furthermore, the solutions described herein are applicable
to a wide variety of electronic communication systems which include
both the synchronous and asynchronous communication technologies
mentioned above. In some embodiments, the present invention may be
constructed as one or more data structures or software modules,
such as a monitoring or compliance agent, which are deployed to
various computing or communication platforms with a given network
for monitoring, identifying and subsequently directing storage
and/or retrieval of certain electronic messages.
[0024] One embodiment of the invention is concerned with the
administration of messaging systems which use the Session
Initiation Protocol (SIP) to initiate and control messaging between
a given source and destination. This may include communication
networks that support or provide two-party or multiparty multimedia
communication sessions such as voice and video calls over the
Internet or other communications network. It may also include
systems which provide video conferencing, streaming multimedia
distribution, instant messaging, presence information and gaming
applications. Moreover, such messaging systems may also support
some or all of the advanced communication features present in SS7
(Signaling System 7) networks and interact with other data transfer
protocols such as the Session Description Protocol (SDP) and
Real-time Transfer Protocol (RTP).
[0025] In such embodiments, aspects of the invention may reside in
(or interoperate with) certain SIP control agents such as SIP User
Agents (SIP UAs) including User Agent Client (UAC) or User Agent
Server (UAS) modules which may be modified and/or monitored to
determine the initiation of a communications session and to
identify messages of interest. With this approach, software
modules, such as monitoring or compliance agents may be selectively
deployed to one or more clients and/or servers to monitor and
identify messages of interest.
[0026] Furthermore, embodiments of the invention may also interact
with other legacy communication platforms such as standard PBX and
PSTN networks. This may be accomplished using any suitable software
or other intermediate control and/or interface logic that
preferably seamlessly interoperates with such legacy networks to
provide both legacy and/or more sophisticated voice and data
communication service. One example of such software is Office
Communication Server (OCS) from Microsoft Corporation. However, any
other similar software or logic may be used, if desired.
[0027] FIG. 1 illustrates a schematic block diagram of a computer
network, constructed in accordance with the principles of the
present invention. As shown, system 100 includes a plurality of
clients, which may clients 110, 112, 114, 120, 122 and 130. These
clients may be any suitable client device such a personal computer,
network terminal, or mobile client device including a cell phone,
smart phone, PDA and like. In operation, communication servers 164
and 182 manage the instantiation, data transfer and termination of
one or more messaging sessions between the clients.
[0028] The embodiment illustrated in FIG. 1 may represent a portion
of a computer network 100 commonly found in a corporate or business
environment. Client computers 110, 120 and 130 may be disparate
geographic locations as the computer network may cover several
different office locations. For example, network 154 may represent
a LAN in the New York office of a business while network 155
represents a LAN in the San Francisco office. Computer 130 may
represent a remote computer such an employee telecommuting from
home or while on a business trip. As shown, network 100 may provide
one or more synchronous messaging applications, with communication
server 164 and 182 being SIP-enabled.
[0029] In the illustrated embodiment, communication servers 164 and
182 may include Microsoft Office Communications Server (OCS) or
other suitable software or logic for interacting with the various
different communication technologies. LAN 154 may further include
domain management devices 163 and compliance agents 162 and 165
(described in more detail below). Similarly, LAN 155 may further
include domain management devices 181 and compliance agent 183.
Other embodiments of the present invention may use a communication
server with similar functionality other than an OCS.
[0030] In some embodiments, the client computers may include
certain client applications for initiating, managing, and
terminating communication sessions through servers 164 and 182.
Such applications may include Office Communicator, also developed
by Microsoft Corporation (however any similar suitable application
or logic may be used, if desired). This type of client/server
application combination (e.g., OCS and Office Communicator)
preferably allows conventional and data oriented networks
interoperate with each other, with network transitions being
substantially seamless through automated policies built into the
applications that route the calls or other communications
automatically based on user preferences.
[0031] Other similar protocols which may be used in conjunction
with the present invention include, but are not limited to: `Jabber
& XMPP`; .H323; MGCP; and RTP (for voice and video
communication) and Jingle which is an extension to XMPP. Although
these applications use a central server to access presence
information and routing information, real time communication (media
transport or audio/video) occurs peer to peer, in part because of
the complexities that arise from bandwidth usage and bottleneck
avoidance in the networks. Moreover, certain applications are used
where only the text portion of a message can be captured in the
central server. Examples include, but are not limited to, Microsoft
Office Communications Server, and FaceTime.RTM..
[0032] As mentioned above, communication servers 164 and 182 may
manage the instantiation, administration and termination of
messaging session(s) between two or more participants. Both the
participants may be within the same domain or different domains in
the same organization. In FIG. 1, each LAN 154 and 155 represent
different domains within the same organization.
[0033] In operation, any of clients, including computers 110, 120
or 130 may initiate a communication or messaging session. For
example, client 130 may initiate an instant messaging session with
client computers 110 and 120. In this case, the IM request may pass
through Internet 174 and to client 110 through communications
server 164 and similarly to client 120 through communications
server 182. Such a communications session may also further include
audio (e.g., through VoIP) and/or a video component. Network
routing and management of the communications session may be managed
through the client and server applications described above.
[0034] Network administrators may desire to track such
communications in order to comply with established communications
policies or regulatory requirements. One way this may be
accomplished is by monitoring communications including message
contents to determine whether they fall into categories that may be
relevant to applicable policies, relate to certain subject areas or
are relevant to other types of inquiries, such as regulatory or
financial inquiries.
[0035] Such relevant subject matter may be defined by network
administrators or other authorized network users. For example, a
network administrator in consultation with management and legal
advisors may define types of messages or message content and/or
communications that are of interest or need to be stored,
restricted or prevented. Such subject matter may also be in the
form of pre-existing data management policies or preferences. This
information may entered or uploaded a through an editing or
compliance program interface specifically designed for this task
(not shown) and may include pull down menus and other predefined
default setting based on the type of business involved. For
example, regulatory or auditing requirements vary from business to
business. A brokerage house has different compliance and retention
needs than a hospital, which as different needs from a drug
manufacturer or law firm. Default categories may be automatically
selected based on the type of business identified. These defaults
may be further supplemented based on an analysis of network
configuration or communication technologies used (typically during
installation).
[0036] Examples of how such content may be defined includes, but is
not limited to, user-specified keywords or subject matter
definitions (e.g., financial, legal, technical, marketing, budget,
investor relations, corporate compliance, etc.) content type,
attachment type, etc. Other criteria that may be considered
includes: author, point of origination, destination (chat room,
bulletin board, etc.) recipient(s), time of day, communication
application used, etc. Such groups need not be pre-existing (e.g.,
such as email groups) and may be defined as further described
herein.
[0037] Thus, initially, a network administrator may define content
and other message attributes of interest for storage and retrieval
during a subsequent compliance inquiry. One way this may be
accomplished by creating one or more "compliance policies" that set
forth subject matter of interest and define what steps are to be
taken with messages that satisfy the defined criteria (i.e.,
specify storage paths and locations, data format and/or conversion
preferences, specify data retention criteria, whether such
information is confidential and access is limited to a certain
authorized individuals, etc.). Such compliance policies may be any
suitable data structure, software module, computer code or other
application suitable for performing the tasks further described
herein.
[0038] Afterwards, these preferences may be communicated to (or
converted into) filters or recognition and processing routines that
are deployed as part of customized compliance or monitoring agents
within network 100. Such compliance or monitoring agents are shown
in FIG. 1 as agents 162, 165 and 183.
[0039] Although these agents are depicted as residing on
independent hardware platforms, it will be understood that such
agents may physically reside on, or be distributed to, any suitable
computing device(s) in network 100 such as client computers,
communications servers or domain devices. Moreover, it will be
further understood that such monitoring agents may be embodied as
software, firmware or any other logic capable of performing the
functions described herein. For example, in some embodiments, the
agents may be deployed as part of (or in place of) UAC or UAS
agents. Moreover, such agents may also be embodied as one or more
client or sever-side "bots" which to act to index and transmit
content from one point to another. In some embodiments, such bots
may include one or more media bots and/or remote file management
bots.
[0040] Thus, after monitoring criteria are established, compliance
agents may be distributed (or updated) throughout network 100.
Initially, this may be done as part of an application installation
routine, with updates being distributed periodically (e.g., as
regulatory requirements or message definitions are changes or
updated). During the installation routine, specific hardware
information may be collected through auto-discovery or other known
network analysis techniques and compliance agents may be installed
in the appropriate network locations based on the results of that
analysis.
[0041] During ensuing communication sessions, the content of
various messages traveling within network 100 may be monitored
based on the established criteria. Messages such as text-based
messages and attachments that meet the defined criteria are
identified and then stored in certain memory locations or database
within the network. This storage medium may be selected such that
it may be easily or quickly accessed or dedicated to a compliance
or auditing function to ensure data integrity. Such a memory or
archiving device may be located in, or associated with, domain
devices 163 or 181. As mentioned above, the storage path and
storage device for a given message may be specified by the
applicable compliance policy.
[0042] In the case where messages include audio or video
components, such information may be converted to text format and
stored along with the native media file for future use. For
example, a text message may include a video having an associated
audio component attachment. If the text message is identified as
relevant by a compliance agent, the attachment may be converted to
text by passing it through speech recognition software. The
converted text file may be added to the text message along with the
raw video file and placed saved in memory for future
examination.
[0043] Moreover, in some embodiments where messages have limited or
no text content but include multimedia attachments, those
attachments may be buffered or copied to an intermediate memory
location and examined as described above to determine whether they
include relevant information. Messages that do not meet the
selection criteria are removed or deleted. Messages that are
selected as relevant re then forwarded to the appropriate
compliance database or storage medium.
[0044] In some embodiments, network 100 may perform certain memory
management functions on stored messages to improve search and
retrieval functions and to reduce or eliminate duplicative
information. For example, network 100 may employ certain data
de-duplication measures such as single instance storage
technologies to remove duplicative information. For example, in the
case where client computer 110 is in communication with client
computer 120, some or all of the same messages may be tagged and
stored by both compliance agent 165 and compliance agent 183. Such
duplicative information may be identified by one or more computers
in domain devices and 163 and 181 and removed such that one copy of
this message remains rather than multiple copies in each
domain.
[0045] Moreover, in some embodiments, compliance agents and/or
domain devices may perform certain data conversion routines on
identified messages to reduce the number of different file format
types stored within network 100. For example, some or all audio
messages may be converted to a common popular compressed file
format such as MP3 to conserve memory and ensure ease of playback
and future compatibility. For example, WAV, PCM, AA3 or other audio
file types may be identified and then converted to MP3 files prior
to (or sometime after initial) storage. Video files may be treated
similarly. Moreover, word processing or spreadsheet file types may
be identified and converted to a common file type or may be
converted to text files. For example, WordPerfect files may be
converted to MS Word files or to ASCII or text files, etc.
[0046] Additional features provided by the present invention may
include real-time monitoring of messages to prevent or prohibit
certain types of communication. For example, a company may wish to
prevent its employees from visiting chat rooms or posting to
message boards while at work. In this case, the network
administrator may define these types of transactions as prohibited
through a compliance policy or communication restriction. Thus, if
an employee attempts to send a text message, email or other
communication to these destinations, a copy of that message may be
stored and management alerted to this transaction. Furthermore, a
warning or reminder screen may appear prior to (or after) the
message is sent informing the user that the contemplated action is
in violation of established communication policies. In some
embodiments, the action may be blocked.
[0047] A similar procedure may be used to prohibit communications
within an enterprise or to make management aware of such
communications. For example, a group of investment advisors in one
location may be prohibited from communicating with a group of
investment advisors at another location. Thus, if an employee of
the first group attempts to send a text message, email or other
communication to the second group, a copy of that message may be
stored and management alerted to this transaction. Furthermore, a
warning or reminder screen may appear prior to (or after) the
message is sent informing the user that the contemplated action is
in violation of established communication policies. In some
embodiments, the action may be blocked and further such
communications prevented.
[0048] FIG. 2 is a flow chart 200 illustrating some of the steps
associated with the monitoring and storing of electronic messages
in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention.
Initially, at step 202, a network administrator or other authorized
user may define subject matter or communication attributes that
will trigger a storage response from compliance agents within
network 100. As mentioned above, this may include user specified
keywords, subject matter, content type, attachment type, etc. Other
criteria that may be considered includes author, point of
origination, destination recipient(s), time of day, communication
application used, etc. Such groups need not be pre-existing and may
be defined as further described herein.
[0049] This may be accomplished by creating one or more compliance
policies that set forth subject matter of interest and define what
steps are to be taken with messages that satisfy the defined
criteria. Subsequently, the preferences specified in these policies
may be communicated to (or converted into) filters or recognition
and processing routines that are deployed as part of customized
compliance or monitoring agents within network 100 (step 204).
[0050] Next, at step 206, the compliance agents may monitor
communication within a specified network for messages that meet the
defined criteria. This may be accomplished using any suitable
active or passive data monitoring technique known in the art such
as IGMP or DCHP snooping of data packets or by directly comparing
characters in payload sections of messages to the defined keywords
or topics of interest. In some embodiments, the compliance agent
may add itself to the communication link such that substantially
all data passes through it so that the data can be monitored in
real time. In other embodiments, message data may be copied for
analysis, and the compliance agent may operate in parallel with the
communication link.
[0051] Next, at step 208, the compliance agents identify messages
that meet the criteria specified in the compliance policies. At
this point, the compliance agents may refer to the applicable
compliance policy to determine what further steps need to be
performed on the identified messages (step 210). For example, in
some embodiments, the compliance policy may specify the storage
path, database or memory location to store that message. Because
the various compliance definitions may be applicable to different
regulations or auditing inquiries, different messages may have
different storage locations, retention criteria, confidentiality
designations etc. Moreover, the compliance policy may specify
certain format or conversion preferences for the identified
message.
[0052] Next, at step 212, once the data processing preferences have
been obtained, those preferences are implemented. For example, this
may include converting the format of the message to a format
defined in the compliance policy. Further, this may include
converting audio and/or video message to text files, which may be
indexed and searched for auditing or regulatory compliance
purposes. Converted messages may then be stored a in designated
memory location and indexed for future retrieval. The storage
manager of this procedure may create a message log which identifies
each message by certain descriptors such as size, file type, date
received, reason message was selected, confidentiality designation,
etc.
[0053] Next, at step 214, certain memory management functions may
be performed on stored messages to improve search and retrieval
operations and to reduce or eliminate duplicative information. For
example, certain data de-duplication measures such as single
instance storage technologies may be employed to remove duplicative
information. For example, in the case where one or more client
computers in different domains exchange messages, some or all of
the same messages may be tagged and stored by compliance agents in
both domains. Such duplicative information may be periodically
identified and removed such that one copy of this message remains
rather than multiple copies in each domain.
[0054] Additional features provided by the present invention may
include real-time monitoring of messages to prevent or prohibit
certain types of communication. For example, a company may wish to
prevent its employees from visiting chat rooms or posting to
message boards while at work. In this case, the network
administrator may define these types of transactions as prohibited
through a compliance policy or communication restriction (step
202). Thus, if an employee attempts to send a text message, email
or other communication to these destinations, a copy of that
message may be stored and management alerted to this transaction
(step 216). Furthermore, a warning or reminder screen may appear
prior to (or after) the message is sent informing the user that the
contemplated action is in violation of established communication
policies (step 218). In some embodiments, the action may be blocked
(step 220).
[0055] Systems and methods described herein may comprise software,
firmware, hardware, or any combination(s) of software, firmware, or
hardware suitable for the purposes described herein. Software and
other modules may reside on servers, workstations, personal
computers, computerized tablets, personal digital assistants
(PDAs), and other devices suitable for the purposes described
herein. Software and other modules may be accessible via local
memory, via a network, via a browser or other application in an
application service provider (ASP) context, or via other means
suitable for the purposes described herein. Data structures
described herein may comprise computer files, variables,
programming arrays, programming structures, or any electronic
information storage schemes or methods, or any combinations
thereof, suitable for the purposes described herein. User interface
elements described herein may comprise elements from graphical user
interfaces, command line interfaces, and other interfaces suitable
for the purposes described herein. Screenshots presented and
described herein can be displayed differently as known in the art
to input, access, change, manipulate
[0056] Aspects of the present inventions described herein may be
embodied as computer-executable instructions, such as routines
executed by a general-purpose computer, e.g., a server computer,
wireless device or personal computer. Those skilled in the relevant
art will appreciate that the invention can be practiced with other
communications, data processing, or computer system configurations,
including: Internet appliances, hand-held devices (including
personal digital assistants (PDAs)), wearable computers, all manner
of cellular or mobile phones, multi-processor systems,
microprocessor-based or programmable consumer electronics, set-top
boxes, network PCs, mini-computers, mainframe computers, and the
like.
[0057] Aspects of the invention can be embodied in a special
purpose computer or data processor that is specifically programmed,
configured, or constructed to perform one or more of the
computer-executable instructions explained in detail herein.
Aspects of the invention can also be practiced in distributed
computing environments where tasks or modules are performed by
remote processing devices, which are linked through a
communications network, such as a Local Area Network (LAN), Wide
Area Network (WAN), or the Internet. In a distributed computing
environment, program modules may be located in both local and
remote memory storage devices.
[0058] Aspects of the invention may be stored or distributed on
computer-readable media, including magnetically or optically
readable computer discs, hard-wired or preprogrammed chips (e.g.,
EEPROM semiconductor chips), nanotechnology memory, biological
memory, or other data storage media. Indeed, computer implemented
instructions, data structures, screen displays, and other data
under aspects of the invention may be distributed over the Internet
or over other networks (including wireless networks), on a
propagated signal on a propagation medium (e.g., an electromagnetic
wave(s), a sound wave, etc.) over a period of time, or they may be
provided on any analog or digital network (packet switched, circuit
switched, or other scheme). Those skilled in the relevant art will
recognize that portions of the invention reside on a server
computer, while corresponding portions reside on a client computer
such as a mobile or portable device, and thus, while certain
hardware platforms are described herein, aspects of the invention
are equally applicable to nodes on a network.
[0059] While the invention has been described and illustrated in
connection with preferred embodiments, many variations and
modifications as will be evident to those skilled in this art may
be made without departing from the spirit and scope of the
invention, and the invention is thus not to be limited to the
precise details of methodology or construction set forth above as
such variations and modification are intended to be included within
the scope of the invention.
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